Avatars

[nullorchis (imported)]

Lately I find myself in The Deep, Dark Cellar I guess because there isn't much else to think about, or say about, or do with regard to my research of, or accomplishment of my long desired castration.

Research into various aspects of religion did lead me to the word: Avatar. Not like the avatar you may have associated with your login name. Originally it had spiritual, religious meanings.

Avatar or Avatara (Sanskrit: अवतार, IAST Avatāra), often translated into English as incarnation, literally means descent (avatarati) and usually implies a deliberate descent from higher spiritual realms to lower realms of existence for special purposes. Descents that are of importance are mainly those of the Supreme Being which are plenary and marked with superhuman qualities. Other types of descents are limited expansions of Ishvara, and some that are descents of lesser empowered divinities.

The term is used primarily in Hinduism for descents of Vishnu whom Vaishnava Hindus (one of the largest branches of Hinduism)[1] worship as the Supreme God, a distinctive feature of Vaishnavism. While Shiva and Ganesha are also described as descending in the form of avatars, with the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana detailing Ganesha's avatars specifically, the avatars of Vishnu carry a greater theological prominence than those of Shiva or Ganesha and upon examination relevant passages are directly imitative of the Vaishnava avatara lists.

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Now, I have absolutely no knowledge of Hinduism, so I am not making any kind of a religious statement here. That just about every culture has a "Supreme God", or believes in one god, (not in many gods as in the past) and to one degree or another everyone believes "their" god is the one and only god, and that so many people have conflicts with others because of how other people believe, just continues to amaze, annoy, and frustrate me.

Conflicts over disagreements in beliefs, religion or otherwise, is time not only wasted, but actions that are not in keeping with the beliefs that people have. Imprisoning or killing someone else because they believe differently than you is just wrong. I don't necessarily believe in what the most peaceful people of peaceful religions profess, but I sure do admire them for being non-combative, non-condeming and accepting of anyone, regardless of their beliefs.

The ways in which some people of some religions spend so much time speaking and writing words of condemnation about the lifestyles of certain types of people, just does not make me want to have anything to do with their religion. My mama taught me that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, and while I can't profess to have always done that, I really do try to make it a part of my life. I might say something bad about what other people do or think---to myself, but I do try to not write or vocalize it to others. Which is why I DO NOT listen to those awful disgusting radio talk show people who do nothing but criticise and condem. Speak no evil, hear no evil. Be nice, be kind, respect the opinions of others. Engaging in polite discussion of disagreement is fine, but just don't get vile or nasty.

Anyway, AVATAR. The modern meaning of avatar is much different.

An avatar is a computer user's representation of himself/herself or alter ego, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games, a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities, or a text construct found on early systems such as MUDs. It is an “object” representing the embodiment of the user. The term "avatar" can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user.

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I don't have an avatar and not sure I want one. I don't know what I would pick as an avatar of myself, and I do not know if I have an alter ego, or if I do, what it is. It is most interesting to see the avatars of others. It would be interesting to have a way to assign avatars TO others. Like, what avatar would you assign to George W. Bush, or to Obama. Would they be complimentary and respectful, or condescending or disrespectful.

In addition, when someone assigned an avatar to another person, that would tell you alot about the person who is assigning the avatar.

A lot can be communicated through the use of avatars.

I wonder if you could write a short story, just enough to get the point across, by placing avatars one after the other, like pictographs of the ancients?

Ooohhhhhhh. I'm rambling on. Like Joe Bidin, I'm just biding my time until something really happens.

[randy (imported)]

A word of advise for anyone who created their avatar. Dont get a new computer then change your avatar to the first picture with a monkey on it that you see. then realize your old avatar, that you meticulously photoshopped, was saved on the old computer that you gave away. not saying i know this from experience but maybe.

[strassenbahn (imported)]

My favorite use of the word "avatar" is from Poe's incomparable short story "The Masque of the Red Death", in which describing a plague the narrator says "The 'Red Death' had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal or so hideous. Blood was its Avatarand its seal -- the redness and horror of blood."

I find it fascinating how new inventions and other technologies can revive or expand dormant terms. Take "icon" for instance. In the pre-personal computer world that extended well into my middle age the world referred almost exclusively to the religious pictures (usually decorated with precious metals) of the Orthodox Church. But since the computer pioneers decided to apply it to the symbols one clicks on -- and they could have chosen another word, say the Mayan "glyph" -- it is now a word in constant use, and the adjective "iconic" that did not exist up to a decade or so ago has swept all competitors before it. Of course this is just part of the fluidity of language as people seek to express the reality around them. For instance, I welcome being able to refer to "my avatar" in stressing my fantasy desire to be a woman, rather than having to say something clumsy like "the image that acccompanies this posting".

Of course a trap to avoid it assuming that terms used in the past have the meaning they do now. For instance I remember stunned on watching a video of a mid thirties Hollywood movie to hear the heroine asked by her female roomate after a date, "did he make love to you?" and being answered with "of course". This was the period when the Production Code (also called Hayes Code) dictated that married couples should always be shown in twin beds separated by bedside tables, even if just chatting or reading in bed. How could the roomate be asking if her freind's date had "made love" to her. Then I realized that "make love" in the thirties meant "profess love", "talk sweet nothings", etc. How many people reading "A Christmas Carol" realize that the meaning of "humbug" is "fraud" (or maybe "bullshit" in our language) so that Scrooge is saying "Christmas, what bullshit (or what a swindle or ripoff)".

A final example of the phenomenon mentioned in the first sentence of the preceding paragraph: two years ago, if you had entered the word "foreclosure" into the search box of the New York Times archive you would have probably gotten a few hits. Just imagine what you would get now!

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

I really like my new avatar

[Slammr (imported)]

I really like my new avatar

Thank God you took that other picture down.

Just kidding, Mac.

[micropenis (imported)]

I really like my new avatar

I like it too Mac. It just suites you.

[estragen (imported)]

Thank God you took that other picture down

gee have to agree with the slammr on that one

[theGelded1 (imported)]

Has the base definition realy changed ?

Avatar ~ A simple representation on a small scale of something much larger and more complex.

Okay, well thats my definition. Fit's though for anything one can imagine. A picture or statue of a god. A clickable sprite to launch a computer program. A photo representing the poster on a forum...

Ah, well you get the idea

By the way Mac, cool Avatar.

[strassenbahn (imported)]

Has the base definition realy changed ?

Avatar ~ A simple representation on a small scale of something much larger and more complex.

Okay, well thats my definition. Fit's though for anything one can imagine. A picture or statue of a god. A clickable sprite to launch a computer program. A photo representing the poster on a forum...

Ah, well you get the idea

By the way Mac, cool Avatar.

Very neatly put. For instance, my avatar perfectly represents the complexity of my longing to be a gorgeous twenty-something woman even though I know I'm actually a sixty-year-old male.

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

I chose this new avatar for the women to see my true identity